Comprehensive coverage

Winner of the Israel Prize in the field of earth science research and atmospheric research - Prof. Gideon Dagan from Tel Aviv University

For the past 13 years, Prof. Dagan has been managing the Stockholm Water Prize for Youth competition, in which youth compete to develop solutions for better utilization of the resource

Prof. Gideon Dagan, recipient of the 2013 Israel Prize for Earth Sciences. Photo: from Wikipedia

The Minister of Education, Gideon Sa'ar, announced today, Monday, the winner of the Israel Prize in the field of earth science research and atmospheric research - Prof. Gideon Dagan and congratulated him. The Minister of Education approved the recommendation of the award committee headed by Dr. Ahuva Almogi.

In the reasoning of the committee, its members stated: "The Israel Prize in the field of earth science research and atmospheric research is awarded to Prof. Gideon for the fact that in 1979 he participated in a breakthrough in the field of hydrology and is considered one of the founders of a new field of science - stochastic hydrology.

The approach developed by Prof. Dagan differs from the traditional approach in that it refers to the processes of flow and transport of salts in groundwater, as data for uncertainty. The models he developed aim to quantify the uncertainties and provide intelligent and advanced tools for understanding the processes of water movement and solute transport in the upper layer of the earth.

The new approach developed by Prof. Dagan aroused great interest in the scientific world and led to the development of a scientific community of hundreds of researchers engaged in this field all over the world. His achievements have received great international recognition and a series of prestigious awards."

Dr. Ahuva Almogi served as the chairman of the award committee, with a member of the committee - Prof. Yossi Hatzor next to her.

Dagan, who is celebrating his eightieth birthday, was born in Romania, a Holocaust survivor, and was later persecuted by the communist regime for illegal Zionist activity. Immigrated to Israel in 1962 and worked in the government service in the field of hydrology.
In 1976, Dagan joined the Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University, which was established near that year, where he served as a professor. Since 2001 he has the status of professor emeritus. Over the years, Prof. Dagan was invited to various universities in the world both for sabbaticals and short visits, and I was invited to a large number of seminars, workshops and conferences.

In 1979 he participated in a breakthrough in the field of hydrology, and is considered one of the founders of a new field - stochastic hydrology. In the message he sent Prof. Dagan explains: "In this approach, which is different from the traditional approach that prevailed until then, the processes of flow and transportation of salts in groundwater are treated as subject to uncertainty. The models I developed aim to quantify the uncertainties, and should provide intelligent and advanced tools for understanding the processes of water movement and transport of solutes in the upper layer of the earth."

"Due to the great interest in the subject throughout the world, this field gained a lot of momentum and a scientific community of hundreds of researchers was created. My achievements have received international recognition, which was manifested in invitations to deliver keynote lectures at many conferences, in being appointed as an editorial board member of various journals, in being invited to organize a UNESCO conference in 1992, in participation in an international panel on the subject of the US nuclear waste repository, etc.

"In addition, I have won various awards and I will mention those awarded by AGU, the American Geophysical Union, which is considered the largest and leading scientific association in the world in earth sciences and which includes hydrology as one of its main fields. In 1984 I received the prize of the hydrology section, in 1989 I was elected a fellow of the association and in 2005 I won the Horton medal, the highest recognition."

"I would like to refer in more detail to the most important award, the Stockholm Water Award that was awarded to me in 1998, due to its public aspects. This prize has been awarded annually since 1990 to a water researcher selected by SIWI (Stockholm International Water Institute) through an international judging committee. The prize is awarded by the King of Sweden in a magnificent ceremony held in the Stockholm City Hall in the presence of many guests. The reasons for awarding the prize appear in the text of the speech of the chairman of the committee, which can be found on the website of Tel Aviv University www.eng.tau.ac.il/~dagan/. Beyond that, the ceremony was also a salute to Israel, when among those present were the Minister of Transportation at the time (Shaul Yahlum) and the Israeli ambassador to Sweden. This was also expressed in the program of the ceremony and in the award acceptance speech (which appears on the website mentioned above)."

"In the last thirteen years I have invested, and I continue to invest, in an enterprise close to my heart - the academic management of the Stockholm Water Prize competition for youth in Israel. This is another initiative of the Stockholm Water Institute, which organizes every year an international competition of teenagers representing different countries (30 in the last year). Each country that joins the competition organizes a national competition, and the winners are sent to Stockholm, for the international competition. I initiated the competition in Israel, and Tel Aviv University sponsored this enterprise. Over the years, hundreds of students from various schools from the center and the periphery have participated in the competition. The purpose of the competition is to strengthen awareness of the water issue and help train the professionals of the future. The winners have represented us with honor in the global competition over the years, and I find great satisfaction in encouraging the future generation to engage in the subject."

11 תגובות

  1. Prof. Dagan was a teacher of applied mathematics at the Technion in 1975 as a student in the Faculty of Civil Engineering. I enjoyed his lectures very much and he is fondly remembered for his mathematical knowledge.

  2. It is a shame that the period when he was at the Technion, studied under Prof. Yaakov Bar and reached the professorship is not mentioned. Only later did he move to the faculty in Tel Aviv when it was established. These were his significant and groundbreaking years

  3. About your argument that because he didn't say anything about the warming, it proves that he doesn't think like all the scientists. They proved to you that he signed a petition with the same opinion as all the scientists.

  4. another one
    SAFKAN has a very clear agenda. Prof. Dagan did not talk about anything - and SAFKAN accepts this as a reinforcement of his position.

    The fact that Prof. Dagan signed http://arabic.sviva.gov.il/aklim_aug08.pdf - a document that talks about AGW - does not interest SAFKAN.

  5. SAFKAN Not that I disagree with most of what you say - but what does that have to do with the article?
    Avi - what does the connection between science and politics have to do with what Safkan said?
    Miracles, what does snake oil have to do with it?!

  6. Spring.

    Gideon Dagan, apparently, is a dogged scientist. He is a man of HARDCORE exact sciences who would not be willing (in my opinion) to touch even a stick in long-term climate prediction (=prediction for ten years and more). In my opinion, it is not a coincidence that he did not express *any prediction* regarding climate change of one kind or another (analyses that Dagan may have done regarding the water sector as a result of climate change - is not *climate prediction* but only retrospective calculations).

    Long-term climate forecasting is a pseudo-science since it involves chaotic processes, only a part of which we understand properly. Even what we understand and measure properly, we are not able to properly analyze for reasons of computational complexity that is beyond our powers. The long-term climate prediction is promoted by pseudo-scientists who promote pseudo-prediction by "hand-waving" arguments, crankiness and persuasion methods taken from the world of politics. According to my impression, Gideon Dagan does not belong to this club, he is a serious scientist and a serious mathematical ability from the school of exact sciences (mathematics, exact physics, computer science). People from the school of exact sciences (like Gideon Dagan) feel (mostly) physically repulsed by cranks who have taken over long-term climate forecasting.

    I can't say anything comprehensive about the public of skeptics regarding anthropogenic global warming, there are all kinds and species there - but to say about all of them that they are motivated by a political motive or greed is a refutable statement. On the other hand, I am certain about the fact that some climate scientists are cranks who have taken over the issue of global warming and silence every voice within this community that raises doubts.

    An example of politics mixed into science is the debunked claim that 99 percent of environmental scientists support the claim of anthropogenic warming. The 99 percent claim stinks just like President Bashar Assad's claim that he represents the public because he will be elected with a majority of more than 99 percent. In areas where the evidence is not conclusive there is no such thing as 99 percent supporting only one side, this is not science this is bad politics.

    The evidence of global warming is indeed inconclusive, all we know unequivocally is that there is moderate global warming and that there is an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide, the causal link between them is disputed and not at all clear.

    If the environmental scientists behaved honestly, they would not dare to raise the 99 percent claim as proof of something, because it does not add respect to them at all. The world of real science is not a world of sweeping consensus, but a pluralistic world where even the minority that disagrees with the opinion of the majority can have their say, even if their words are different (provided that their words are coherent and well supported).

    for your information. Galileo Galilei was in a bright minority against the academia of his time that supported Aristotle's paradigms regarding the natural sciences. Galileo was probably opposed by more than 99 percent of scientists. To such an extent that Galileo was in the minority that the Academy at the time *incited* the Inquisition against him (had it not been for the Academy's incitement, it is doubtful whether the Inquisition would have been dealt with by Galileo, this matter was investigated by the researcher of the history of science Stillman Drake).

    Highly recommended to anyone who wants to read the book "Galileo" by Stillman Drake. This is for those who did not understand that even among scientists there is politics and they are not ultimate "seekers of truth". People who do not know scientists closely, attribute to them integrity beyond what really exists. Scientists are normal human beings with human weaknesses. In general, every scientist is almost fighting for his livelihood and if a new paradigm threatens his livelihood (or may lower it) he can quite easily slander the one who introduces the new paradigm.

    In my estimation, the main motive for the grouping of climate change scientists towards global warming is the economic motive (the sanctity of their livelihood), many of them will fight fiercely against other paradigms that threaten their livelihood.

    incidentally. Even nowadays there is a noisy clash of paradigms in evolution, a clash between Edward Wilson (who renewed the principle of "group selection" as an alternative to the accepted paradigm of "remnant selection"). What scum are being poured by fanatical followers of the leftists (followers of the "consensus") on Edward Wilson, politics in the pasture.

  7. Prof. Dagan deals with hydrology, and does not have to express himself on any subject related to the earth. But I can't understand why there is any connection at all between science and political view. Science should provide the facts, and the politician should address them - should something be done about it or not, as soon as you start denying facts, it hurts science a lot, because it seems to put it in a political position.
    Therefore there is no such thing as accusations. Those who are to blame for this are the deniers you rely on.

  8. Lucky that Gideon Dagan never said that humanity is *to blame* for global warming...otherwise we would now be washed away in a new flood of accusations.

Leave a Reply

Email will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismat to prevent spam messages. Click here to learn how your response data is processed.